ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan — Turkmenistan's oil and gas minister, Kakageldy Abdyllayev, said in a statement published in state newspapers that Turkmenistan would take its claim for three offshore oil and gas fields to the United Nations International Court of Justice, after an Azerbaijani border patrol earlier this month intercepted a Turkmen boat it claimed was conducting seismic experiments in the region.
Azerbaijan has said that the conducting of the experiments in the contested Kyapaz oil and gas field breaches agreements previously reached between the countries. Turkmenistan, which refers to the territory as Serdar, has denied the existence of any such understanding.
Azerbaijan estimates the fields may hold up to 50 million tons of oil.
(AP)
